


The Royals Season 5

by MarMil29



Category: The Royals (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M, theroyals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-26 06:42:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15657870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarMil29/pseuds/MarMil29
Summary: This story takes place after The Royals season 4 finale.Eleanor is in a dark place after Willow's betrayal.Liam is in an angry place, taking it out on everyone and everything...including Elanor.Helena is trying to keep her family together, while she is falling apart.Jasper is trying to control everything even as he begins to be manipulated by Robert.





	1. The Jump

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place right after the Season 4 finale of The Royals. The plan is to make this a sort of Season 5 of the show, and I'm planning on making it around 15-20 chapters. Most POVs will be in Eleanor's POV, but if there are any requests for any other POV's, let me know and I'll see if I can.

Eleanor took a deep drag of her cigarette, the hot air warming her from the chilly cold air of the night. She was sat upon the bench outside the palace, near the gardens, and she had begun to think of this place as not just hers, where she used to come to get high and to cry, but as her little family spot, with her mother, Helena, and her brother, Liam.

It was where she had some really good and fond talks with them.

Which was especially needed after that shit show of a wedding between her other brother, Robert, and his now wife Willow.

Eleanor shook her head as she thought back to that horrible day which happened just yesterday. 

_"I do," Willow said, smiling at her newly wed husband, Robert._

_Eleanor was sure she hadn't heard her right. What happened to the grand, epic speech that Willow was supposed to say to bring to light all the evil Robert had done? To make him step down as King, and have Liam take his rightful place as the King._

_The words Willow spoke kept echoing around the church, and inside of Eleanor's head. I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do..._

_How could she?_

_After everything that had gone so wrong, Eleanor had so foolishly hoped that perhaps this time life would go right for her and her family. But perhaps, all of their sins from the past, had finally caught up to the Henstridge's. Perhaps they didn't deserve a shot at redemption, even though they tried and planned to do right this time._

_Eleanor could feel herself begin to hyperventilate, and out of the corner of her eye she saw movement, and turned to see Liam, beginning to ascend the steps towards the newly wed couple who were currently kissing, while the crowd around them applauded lightly, and the music swelled to a majestic high._

_She saw Jasper drag Liam by the back of his uniform, talking quietly and quickly into his ear. She could imagine Jasper telling her brother to relax, that they'll figure out where to go from here, that it'll be alright because it would be, right?_

_It had to be._

_Eleanor closed her eyes, and tried to breathe slowly and deeply, but she couldn't stop the panic from rising in her._

_She needed a drink. Or ten. And a smoke. Or ten._

_She opened her eyes to see the happy couple, wave at everyone, as they descended the stairs and strolled down the aisle, arm in arm, and suddenly everything went still and quiet._

_As Willow and Robert passed by her, Robert cut a look towards her, one full of cunning and mirth, with victory sketched at the edges of his smile, while Willow gave her a pleasant, but blank, look._

_Eleanor tried to convey as much betrayal and anger as she could in her own look, but Willow looked away the next second._

_A headache was pounding at her temple, and while everyone shuffled around her to go out after the couple at the entrance of the church, Eleanor brushed past her mother to go out the exit near the stage where no one else was._

_Jasper caught her eye, but he still had a hold of Liam who looked pissed, and she glanced away before he could say or do something to stop her, and as soon as she was at the door, she was out and running, running so fast and hard, feeling the muscles in her thighs burn, feeling her blood boil, feeling the adrenaline thrum through her entire body and it burned so good._

_The pain cleared out the white noise in her head, it cleared out the betrayal she felt in her heart._

_She ran and ran until she reached the lake near the palace. She stopped at the bridge which oversaw the lake, and she turned to the left so that she could look at the palace. Her home._

_It didn't feel like her home. Jasper felt like home. So did Liam. Sometimes, even her mother felt like home, too. But the palace was huge and cold and empty._

_It had consumed her, that emptiness, until she felt just like the palace herself._

_She turned her back on it. She looked down at the body of water beneath her, so calm and richly blue. Inside of her, all her turmoil and chaotic feelings, began to subdue and she felt like she could breathe._

_She continued looking at the water, feeling calmer by the second, but life as a princess had never been calm. She had never been good at dealing with calm. She thrived in the chaos and glamour of the life of the monarchy._

_So, she looked down at the water, and she got on top of the bridge, and jumped in her red and glamorous dress._

_She expected to come up, splashing and coughing up water, but hadn't realized the dress would come up around her, like a balloon, suffocating her. The lake was only around fifteen feet or so, and she hadn't thought she was in any danger, she just wanted to jump and swim, but the damn dress._

_She pushed her arms out in front of her, trying to get the material to go down, but it was all around her and everytime she pushed it down, the force of the water pushed it back up. She struggled to gather breath into her lungs, only the lakewater dragging into her lungs, making her entire chest burn._

_She continued fighting though. Her arms kept flailing out in front of her, trying to rip a hole into the fabric, to get it out over her head, but she couldn't breathe and soon, she felt too tired to fight. Her arms stopped moving, but her lungs kept burning._

_The darkness and coldness became too much for her, and with one more lungful of water, she let the water win._

_It almost felt like letting Robert win, for which she felt sad about. She would have fought, even after the disastrous wedding._

_She wanted to cry out into the world, not for help, but that she would have fought, but instead, the darkness won and she fell, deep, deep, deep, into a void no one ever really got out of._

_Hands crushed into her chest, and Eleanor opened her eyes as a mouthful of lakewater spewed out of her aching, and curiously, dry throat. It felt raw and scratched up, as if she hadn't drank anything for days and was stranded on a dry desert._

_Eleanor looked around wildly, feeling every single nerve and bone in her body ache and burn._

_Panting above her with a wild expression was James Hill. The Head of Security._

_"What were you doing, Princess?" He was out of breath, but she could still detect the angry tone beneath it._

_Breathing hurt, and she would imagine so would speaking, but she tried to do so. She swallowed, which burned like a bitch, and said, "Trying to amuse you?"_

_He didn't smile or laugh like she hoped. Instead, he gathered her up in his arms, and began a steady job towards the palace. Every single jostle hurt her, but she stayed silent and wrapped her arms around his neck._

_Now that she thought about it, her jump into the lake was pretty idiotic. Some might see it as suicidal, which it wasn't._

_A thought occurred to her and she pulled her head back a bit._

_"I didn't try to kill myself, you know?"_

_He didn't say anything, but his lips did press into a tight line. She bit her lip, uneasily. There was no way James didn't tell her family. Or Jasper._

_She was so screwed._

_She laid her head back down upon his shoulder._

_"Where are you taking me?" she asked him after a while. They were almost to the palace now._

_"Right into the heart of the reception."_

_"Why?" she asked. Couldn't he tell her family after the shitty reception? Did he have to embarrass her right this second?_

_"I figured I'd save everyone from the awkwardness happening in there right now." James had a dark humorous grin upon his face._

_"Well, I guess I can sacrifice any dignity I have to save people from a terrible party." Eleanor joked with a small laugh that honestly hurt the shit out of her lungs._

_"You gonna carry me in?" she asked him._

_"Yeah. Or at least as long as it takes for Jasper to see you and come rushing to your aid like the Knight in White Armor he thinks he is," James said._

_Eleanor smiled a bit._

_The palace guards, upon seeing them, began running down the steps._

_"It's the princess, is she okay?" asked one of them. She gave a thumbs up._

_James told them, "The princess is fine. I'm going to take her to her room, so that she can rest."_

_The guards hesitated. "Wouldn't it be more prudent for you to take her around the left, into the secret tunnels? The reception is still going on in the Red State Room." Which was exactly where she wanted to be, to disrupt the party._

_She wasn't sure she could face Robert and Willow, though. Not without wanting to rip their lying, traitorous faces off._

_But really, she was too chickenshit to face Jasper. He was going to have so many questions about her wet dress, and she wasn't sure he would understand that she wasn't trying to drown herself._

_"No," James said simply to the guard, brushing past the palace guard and up the steps._

_They were at the palace front doors when James stopped and asked, in a quiet voice, "You ready, princess?"_

_She nodded, and hid her face a bit deeper into his embrace._

_The doors opened, and bright lights streamed over them. James stepped over the threshold and into the palace. He walked straight for a bit, before turning right, into the Red State Room where there was light chatter and laughter, which stopped abruptly at the sight of James carrying a dripping wet Eleanor._

_Eleanor didn't peek out, too emotionally drained to deal with anyone right now._

_"Jesus," said a familiar and warm voice, and Eleanor was soon transferred from James' arms into Jasper's. She held tightly onto him, wounding her arms around his neck until she was certain she was suffocating him, but he didn't complain._

_"Oh my god, honey, are you okay?" Eleanor felt hands patting down her soaked hair, caressing her._

_"Leave me alone, mum," she managed to get out._

_"What happened to her?" asked Liam. Eleanor could hear their steps behind them, hear their whispers and concerns, but she just wanted her bed and Jasper. She'd deal with her fucked up feelings and thoughts tomorrow._

_"Eleanor, come here." It was Robert's strong and authoritative voice, commanding her. She sank in deeper into Jasper's embrace. She couldn't deal with Robert tonight, she couldn't. Tomorrow, she'd put on her most badass attire, with her fiercest makeup, and then, only then, could she take on Robert._

_But not now._

_"Take her to my office," Robert said, and there was no room to argue. Not with that tone._

_Jasper pressed a featherlight kiss to her forehead and asked, quietly, "Do you want to? Because I'll take you anywhere you want to go, all you have to do it ask, Lenny."_

_Eleanor sighed. If he didn't take her to Robert, she was sure her brother would find some way to hurt Jasper. She wouldn't put him past him to revoke his Knighthood._

_"It's fine," she said._

_They stepped into Robert's office and Eleanor heard the door lock behind them. Gotta face the music sometime, she thought. She wiggled to get out of Jasper's arms, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do._

_Straightening up, she looked around the room. Next to her side, holding her hand tightly, was Jasper, who was staring straight at her with his focused and intent stare that she loved so much. But right now, it was too much. She looked away and standing next to Jasper was her mother, looking worried, Liam, looking a cross between angry and concerned, and her Uncle Cyrus._

_She scowled at the last person._

_"I guess all those swimming lessons your parents paid for, didn't pay off, huh?" Cyrus said with his signature smirk._

_She rolled her eyes and flipped him off._

_Next to Cyrus was James, and next to James, leaning against his desk, was Robert. Willow stood next to him, staring at the ground._

_"What happened, Eleanor?" asked Robert in a concerned tone. Acting brotherly._

_Eleanor shrugged. "Like Cyrus said, the lessons didn't pay off."_

_Robert turned away from her and addressed James._

_"Where did you find her?" he asked._

_James gave her a swift apologetic look and addressed her brother._

_"In the palace lake, Your Highness."_

_There was silence for a beat, and then..._

_"The fifteen foot lake. How the fuck do you drown in that?" asked Cyrus._

_Eleanor scowled, really needing a drink now. She didn't want to explain herself, especially since her own feelings were all over the place, all muddied and confused._

_She looked away, trying to focus on anything, when she found Liam's fists._

_"Who'd you fight? A fucking saw?" His knuckles were bruised and beat to hell._

_Liam shrugged. "Doesn't matter now. What happens to you did."_

_"Does it really matter now, during Willow's and Robert's reception."_

_"Apparently it did, considering you decided to dive into a fifteen foot lake." It was Willow who spoke with a soft tone. She still hadn't raised her eyes to look at Eleanor, or any of them, but she held hands with Robert._

_Eleanor felt the betrayal, wicked as a knife, against her heart. She could barely keep her own face neutral, not with the rising emotions threatening to spill out of her._

_"I'm tired, Robby." She figured using the name she affectionately used for her brother might give him a heart for half a second and let her get away from this interrogation. "Can I just go to my room and sleep. I'll explain myself tomorrow, okay?"_

_Robert stayed quiet, and she forced herself to meet his stare without disgust or anger._

_"Okay," he agreed. "Jasper take her to her room and make sure she stays there."_

_Jasper nodded and tugged her hand gently. He opened the door, and closed it behind them, and then swept Eleanor off her feet. He carried her without problem, not even out of breath, as he walked with her in his arms._

_She stared at him, tracing a finger across his face, lightly touching his intent, and focused eyes that she loved so much. She ran a hand through his neatly combed hair, tussling it, and usually he'd say something to her, but he was quiet._

_They reached her room, and he opened and closed her door, all without jostling her too much. She expected him to set her down the moment they were in the room, but instead, he walked all the way to the bed and set her down gently._

_He slid in right next to her and held her tightly._

_"I'm only going to ask this once and I want your honest answer, okay?" he asked her._

_She nodded._

_He stared at her, his bright blue eyes oddly dim, and said, "Why did you jump in the lake? Was it to kill yourself?"_

_She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling like crying all of a sudden._

_She opened them and said, "Would I really be stupid enough to try and kill myself in a fifteen foot lake?"_

_"Your soaking red dress tells me the answer is yes."_

_"No, it wasn't to --- no, I didn't want to die. I just needed to, escape, for a bit. From everything. But not in a permanent way. I just wanted to jump and swim, but then my dress started suffocating me because it's so damn puffy and the water weighed it down and I just...I didn't think, okay? I'm sorry."_

_He closed his eyes, and his face was scrunched up in so much pain, Eleanor felt even more like shit than she already did._

_"After all we've been through," he said, his voice low and rough with emotion, "Don't...just don't give up."_

_"I won't. I'm not. I won't give up on us, not ever." She promised._

_"Don't give up on yourself, princess."_

_He said it quietly, but Eleanor still heard the crack in his voice, and that sound cracked her own heart._

_She cradled her head onto his chest, settling into his warmth and love._

_"I won't. Now shut up and let me sleep."_

_She heard him chuckle softly as she drifted off to sleep in his arms._

Now, here she was the next day, sitting on this bench, and not feeling any stronger or braver to face Robert for the day.

She heard footsteps approaching, and her mother and brother rounded the corner. She passed the cigarette to her mother without needing her to ask.

"Are you okay today?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, just getting ready to face the devil and the she-devil."

Her mother chuckled darkly at that.

"I can't believe Willow would betray us like that," Liam said. "I know her, she's a good person."

"Yeah, until she fell in love with the devil." Eleanor said, not wanting to hear Liam make up bullshit excuses for Willow.

Anger better suited her and she didn't want to feel any sympathy for the devil.

Or the she-devil.

Her mother passed the cigarette to her brother.

"Jasper and Cyrus will be meeting us here soon," said Helena.

Eleanor groaned. "Why the hell did you invite Cyrus?"

"Because he can help us," said Liam.

Before Eleanor could say anything offensive about her Uncle, he and Jasper rounded the corner. Eleanor smiled at Jasper watching as his usually neutral face lit up for half a second before returning to his impassive stare. He was sexy either way and Eleanor winked at him.

"Please, there are children present," said Cyrus, motioning Liam.

"Fuck off, Cyrus." Liam said good naturedly.

"How about we talk about the meeting we have with your brother in an hour?" asked Helena.

"We need a plan of action so we can prepare what to say to him, depending on what he knows, if anything."

Jasper had silently walked over next to her, wrapping his tuxedo jacket around her shoulders. She leaned into him as around them they began to figure out their next course of action regarding how to get Robert off the throne.

Without bloodshed or with.

God save the King.

 


	2. The Conversation

My Dearest Princess,

  
I have not done a lot of good in this life, especially not good enough to deserve you, which leads me to theorize that I must have been a goddamn Saint in my past life to have deserved you, even just a fragment, in this life.

  
You called yourself a mess once, proclaimed that your life was too messy for me (yes, Liam did tell me this, and yes, I know you’re already laughing, thinking of us two manly men gossiping about our love lives) but I think your mess fits perfectly into my own fucked-up life.

  
Two messy, fucked-up people in love ---- I wouldn’t have it any other way, Princess, nor with anyone else.

  
The time I have spent with you, apart or together, fighting or loving, has shown me that even a thieving nobody can have an epic love with a badass, fierce, and brave Princess.

  
My very own happily ever after.

  
With all my love,

  
Jasper Frost

Robert snorted, rather derisively, as he read through the latest love letter Eleanor’s bodyguard, Jasper, has put into the hollowed-out book they used to exchange love letters as if they were living out some Eighteenth Century love affair.

  
It was rather annoying to Robert who thought the whole thing childish.

  
He didn’t have any hope in their relationship. It was as if they were two children playing at love, believing that if only they loved each other hard enough, they could overcome everything.

  
Neither of them had yet experienced real, true love. True love required momentous sacrifice.

  
It required you to give a piece of yourself, of your soul, until you could no longer recognize yourself.

  
Robert himself had never loved, nor he planned to, but Willow knew of that kind of love. He had seen it shine in her eyes, during the conversation they had before their wedding.

  
It was that love that had made her say “I do.” It was that love that had crumbled her spirit so entirely, Robert was certain she would never recuperate.  
It was admirable, if not a bit pathetic, how much Willow had let that love ruin and consume her.

  
As Robert put the disgusting love letter back into the hollowed-out book, the doors opened, and there stood Liam.

  
Robert put a smile on his face, quickly, before his brother could see the look of resentment that had flashed across his face just a second before.

  
Before the island, Liam had always been so...small. So preoccupied with his booze and his drugs and his girls. Concerned about all the small things in life even though a Crown glittered before his face everyday.

  
Liam had never hungered for thar Crown, for that power, not the way Robert had since he was just a young boy, and Robert had always been glad he had not been given a envious brother.

  
But now, as Liam strolled towards him, with his head held high and his eyes determined and hard, Robert realized his brother looked just like their late father.

  
King Simon.

  
Robert banished the unsavory thoughts away from his head and waited for Liam to speak.

  
“Everyone is waiting for you in your office.” There was a hint of impatience in his brother’s tone, which made Robert smile down at him.

  
Robert was glad his younger brother was still shorter than him.

  
“Yes, I am waiting for our special guest, so I can show him the way to my office.”

 

Liam’s left eyebrow cocked. “We weren’t aware you were bringing anyone else for this family conversation.”

  
Robert smiled tightly. “He is an old friend. Almost like a brother to me.”

  
“Beck?” asked Liam.

  
“No,” Robert shook his head. If only Beck had kept his head on cool and hadn’t tried to irritate a reaction out of Jasper, then perhaps he could have helped him now.

  
“Then who?” asked Liam, and where just a minute before Robert had seen a glimpse of their late father, the King, now only stood his younger, angrier brother.

  
“You will meet him soon enough.”

  
“So, we have never met him before then?” Liam’s face was puckered, and getting redder by the moment.

  
“Why don’t we just go to my office? I’m sure the guards can direct him well enough.” Robert said, already heading towards the door.  
He didn’t look behind him, knowing Liam kept pace.

  
Sure enough, Liam came up beside him, to his right.

  
“How’s married life?”

  
The question surprised Robert. He had expected his brother to demand to know who the mystery guest was, but instead, Liam actually sounded...genuine.

  
“It is...good. Willow and I have been perfectly content.”

  
“It is strange that you have not gone on your honeymoon. Usually couples go the night of, or even the day after. Why haven’t you two gone somewhere?”

  
Robert laughed. “Because I am King and my duties are to run this country”

  
Liam didn’t laugh. “And what of Willow? What about your duties as a husband to your wife?”

  
Robert stopped walking. He turned to face Liam and in a dark tone, he said, “Willow is my Queen. She understands that my duties as King will always proceed my duties as husband. It is why I chose her.”

  
It was times like these, in which Liam would show some concern or care for Willow, that made Robert remember that before him...there had been something between his wife and his brother.

  
It was innocent enough, barely a kiss between the two, but he would sometimes see a certain look in Liam’s eyes that he was sure his own brother probably didn’t even realize he had.

  
It was...disconcerting.

  
“How is Kathryn, by the way?” Robert didn’t want to talk about Willow anymore, not with his brother. He didn’t want to share her anymore than he had to.

  
It was a strange feeling, one he hadn’t felt for --- well, never, actually.

  
Liam’s posture became tense, as straight and poised as a cobra ready to strike, and there was a certain desperation in his younger brother’s eyes.

  
This all happened within a second, and if anyone else had been looking at his brother, probably no one would have noticed, but Robert had grown up with him and he had seen the fear and worry in his brother.

  
Liam shrugged, his stance now casual and calm. “She’s working at the bar. I’ve got plans to see her later tonight.”

  
Robert nodded, deciding not to comment on his brother’s strange reaction.

  
He’d send out his men to check on Kathryn and see if everything truly was alright.

  
They reached Robert’s office and the door was slightly ajar. Robert lightly pressed his palm against the door and pushed it open.  
Everyone was there.

  
Helena stood near Cyrus and James by his desk, towards the left. Willow stood to the right of them, alone.

  
Jasper and Eleanor were seated next to each other, with Eleanor’s head in Jasper’s lap and running a hand lightly through her hair.

  
“Well, I see you have all made yourselves comfortable.” Robert announced to them all, stepping into the room, with Liam just a step behind.

  
Cyrus snorted. “If there were some booze in here, then perhaps I could be comfortable. What sort of meeting doesn’t have booze, anyhow? Especially one concerning this family?”

  
Eleanor raised a bottle she had hidden underneath her armpit. “Hear, hear.”

  
Cyrus glowered at her. “You little devil. You didn’t think of sharing with your favorite Uncle?”

  
Eleanor laughed out loud at that. “Ha! I’d sooner admit to treason against the King than share any of my booze with you, dear Uncle.”

  
Robert raised an eyebrow at that while Eleanor laughed again and chugged deeply from the bottle. Robert looked at Jasper, expecting him to do something, perhaps even take the bottle away from her, but he only looked down at her fondly, with a smile tugging at his lips.

  
Useless, Robert thought.

  
“Has the party started without me?” asked a new voice.

  
Robert turned to see his old Military buddy, Riley, leaning against the wall.

  
Riley walked into the room, shaking Robert’s hand, while Robert tugged him closer to give him a hug and a slap on the back.

  
“Late as usual, eh?” asked Robert with a laugh. “Was it a certain blond keeping you this time?”

  
“Nah,” said Riley with a wide smile. “A black haired beauty wouldn’t let me out of bed.”

  
Robert shook his head, fondly, at his friend. Although Robert had been friends with Beck since they were kids, the friendship between Riley and Robert and been cemented through blood and sweat, a bond of friendship that went much deeper than any Robert had had before.

  
“Ah, I see this is the lovely Willow.” Riley said, disentangling himself from Robert and sauntering over to Willow. He lifted her hand and planted a quick kiss upon it. “The TV screens do your beauty no justice. A shame, really.”

  
Robert was pleased to see that his friend’s flirting had no effect upon his wife, who merely raised an eyebrow at him.

  
Riley lifted an eyebrow right back at her before turning to face the others in the room.

  
“Aren’t you gonna introduce me to the Royal Family, Rob?”

  
“As if you don’t already know who they already are.” Robert replied.

  
“True,” Riley said, and walked over to Robert’s mother, Helena. “You must be Helena. No one else could radiate as much grace with nearly as much dignity or beauty as you do.”

  
Helena smiled, with a small blush forming on her cheeks. “Well, aren’t you a charmer?”

  
He kissed her hand smoothly.

  
Cyrus, who stood beside them, guffawed. “Oh, please. If only you really knew her, you would know the only thing Helena is graceful at is spreading her legs.”

  
“Cyrus!” exclaimed Helena in a affronted tone.

  
Eleanor began giggling as she said, “Oh, how the pot mocks the kettle, Uncle.”

  
Riley took all of this in stride, merely sidestepping until he was in front of Cyrus. He held out his hand, which Cyrus did not shake, and then let it drop back to his side.

  
“Yes,” said Riley in a soft tone. “The One Who Would be King.”

  
Cyrus flinched as if Riley had slapped him. Robert merely smirked slightly. He knew it was a good choice to bring Riley into his plans. Riley could get to the core of a person, seconds after just meeting them, and could exploit their weaknesses and fears, all without getting his hands dirty, and just saying a few words here and there.

  
Riley walked away from the stricken Cyrus and onto James. Robert was curious to see how he would handle the Head of Security.

  
They both stared at each other, a second which seemed like an eternity, until they held out their hands and shook them. Riley walked away without a comment.

  
He stood, looking down at Eleanor and Jasper, both of whom ignored him. Eleanor was currently snogging the bottle while an amused Jasper whispered in her ear.

  
“The Princess and her Bodyguard...why do I feel like I’ve read that story somewhere?” asked Riley in a polite tone.

  
“Perhaps you have heard of Queen Anne?” asked Jasper in his no nonsense voice, sharing a quick smile with Eleanor.

  
“No, I can’t say that I have,” said Riley quietly, giving the both of them one last glance while they continued ignoring him, and walked back towards where Robert stood, with Liam still at his side.

  
Robert filed away the mention of Queen Anne into his thoughts.

  
Riley and Liam shook hands.

  
“If you’re such great friends with Robert, why is it that he isn’t mentioned you before?” asked Liam.

  
Riley shrugged. “I’m sure he had other things to deal with, such as returning from the dead and becoming King, than to mention a dear old friend.”

Liam squinted at him. “Perhaps so.”

  
“Now that everyone knows each other, can we bloody hurry this meeting up? I’ve got other important things to do.” Cyrus was in a fouler mood than usual, and Robert had Riley to thank for that.

  
“Surely Eleanor’s late night swim isn’t something you don’t care about, Uncle?” Robert asked, waving in Eleanor’s direction.

  
“Late night swim?” asked Riley.

  
“None of your business.” Eleanor said with a bite in her tone. “Besides, isn’t this supposed to be a family meeting. Why is he even here?”

  
“He’s going to be staying with us for a while,” said Robert. “As Eleanor’s bodyguard.”

  
Eleanor sat up at that. “Oh, hell no he isn’t.”

  
“Yes, he is and that is final.”

  
“What about Rosie? You can’t just fire her!”

  
“I did,” said Robert. “I will not be having incompetent bodyguards in charge of my little sister’s life. She wasn’t even any near you last night which shows she obviously cannot handle this job.”

  
Eleanor was fuming. The bottle she had been nursing now lay at her feet, forgotten. She was standing up, with Jasper behind her, one hand upon her shoulder.

  
“I will not have this Riley guy be my bodyguard. Since he’s your friend, shouldn’t he be your bodyguard and you can give Jasper back to me?”  
“No,” Robert said simply.

  
Eleanor threw her hands up in frustration. “Why not? It makes more sense for your friend to guard you and my boyfriend to guard me.”

  
Robert opened his mouth, at his rope’s end with his sister, when suddenly Riley said, “Your sister’s right. Even though I would be a great choice to guard her, Jasper is the better one because you know, everyone in this room does, how much he loves her. He would sacrifice himself for her and that’s what you want for your sister, isn’t it?”  
  
Robert rarely got mad at his friend, but just this instant, he was pissed. He glared at Riley, barely believing his ears, already regretting the fact that he asked his friend to help him when he caught the subtle glint in his eyes.

  
Although they had a plan, Riley apparently figured out a better one.

  
So, Robert nodded his head. “Fine.”

  
Eleanor appeared shocked, and even Jasper seemed confused as to why Robert had conceded so easily.

  
There was a knock at the door, stilling all conversation.

  
One of the Royal guards came in, and addressed the King.

  
“We need you right away, Sir.”

  
Robert nodded. Looking at his family, he said, “I believe this conversation is finished. Lenny, stop swimming in lakes without supervision. Next time you do, Jasper will suffer the consequences.”

  
Robert turned, Riley already following him, when he paused.

  
“Liam, why don’t you join me?”

  
Liam, who had already begun walking towards his sister, stopped, and turned to face him incredulously.

  
“Are you serious?” he asked.

  
“Yes,” said Robert. “Even a Prince should know what’s going on in his Country.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, not much happened in this chapter, I know, but I just wanted to introduce a new character, and set some things up for future chapters. 
> 
> Please let me know what you thought of this chapter and what you would like to see more of!!

**Author's Note:**

> Please Rate and Review. I appreciate every comment. Also, the next chapter is called "The Conversation", so let me know if you would want that in Eleanor's perspective or someone else's...maybe even Robert's. It might be interesting to get into that head of his. :)


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